Blood Brothers

Blood Brothers                                               2867

Saturday, December 31, 2005-2:57 P.M. CST

Continuing on my road trip in St. Louis, Missouri...last night was great, I jammed two great shows down the throats of the fine people at the Comedy Forum.  Headliner and mentor Mike Dambra lambasted me all the way across Missouri, chiding me for not doing my best.  He accused me of phoning it in, and when I asked him if he thought that was going to make me mad and get me to change, he said "Absolutely."  Well, he's been mind-manipulating me for the last three years that I've been under his wing, and he was absolutely right.  I took the stage by storm, despite some abdominal discomfort caused by clam strips on the buffet at Ponderosa (I'm having really lousy luck with buffets this week, eh?) and turned in two great shows.  Matt, the owner of the club, asked if I had the bullets to close, so this might lead to the end of my quest to move up to closer status.  2006 is looking brighter every day.

This will be my last entry for 2005, and it's been an incredible year.  Looking back, all the way to New Year's Eve last year, when I was requested to play the Comedy Zone in Greensboro, North Carolina, to scoring headliner spots at my home club as well as the House of Comedy in Niagara Falls, Canada and Fat Katz in Utica, NY, Comedy Company dates in Dunkirk, NY and Williamsport, PA, Syracuse, NY and Fredericksburg, VA, and the summer tour in Florida and Georgia, it has definitely been my best year ever and the herald of great things to come. 

This year, I performed in North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin, New York, Texas, Oklahoma, Illinois, Minnesota, Connecticut, Ohio, Virginia, Tennesee, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, Nebraska, North Dakota, Kentucky and Missouri, as well as Ontario, Canada.  23 states and one Canadian Province...not too shabby.  I still haven't played New Jersey, which strikes me as odd considering it's only one state over from my home, and I've had 17 years to make it happen...maybe 2006 will be my chance.  Also, I never got to West Virginia....I used to do a lot more work in thatstate, but I have it on the books for 2006.

I've worked with some great people this year, comics I've had a lot of fun with, and while I probably couldn't remember them all, I'll try to mention them all...much thanks and a white-boy shout-out to Mutzie, Joseph Anthony, Bill Benden, Carol Pennington, Jay Black, Mark Knope, Jocko Alston, Nick Siracuse, Jack Wilhite, Richard Ramirez, Jim Dailakis, Ari Van Eyk, Dennis Ross, Jimmy Graham, Dan Ellison, David Graham, Chris Coccia, Mimi Gonazalez, Ray Salah, Pete Johannsen, Paul Hooper, Mo Alexander, Mark Klein, Claud Stuart, Shelly Marshall, Bobby Dean, Mike Armstrong, Chris Barnes, Al Katz, Randolph T., Scotty Goff, Bob Jay, Derek Richards, Pete Lee, Peter Jung, Mike Irwin, Mark Anthony, Stephen Juliano Moore, Bryan McCree, Keith Lenart, Mike Dambra and Chris Smith.  I hope you all have a dynamite 2006.  Mega-Mega hollas to Steve Burr, T.L. Johnson, Joe Fico, Mark Wiedmann, Annette Lorenzo, Danny Liberto, V.J. Stanley, Marianne Sierk, and everyone who hung out, drank, tagged or just supported....keep kicking ass and making 'em laugh!

Ralph Tetta

Rochester, NY